Example: barber

Transnational advocacy networks in international and ...

Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics*. Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink World politics at the end of the twentieth cen- works are helping to transform the practice of tury involves, alongside states, many non-state national sovereignty. actors who interact with each other, with states, Scholars have been slow to recognize and with international organizations. This article either the rationality or the significance of acti- considers how these interactions are structured vist networks . Motivated by values rather than in networks , which are increasingly visible in by material concerns or professional norms, international politics. Some involve economic they fall outside our accustomed categories.

90 Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink try not only to influence policy outcomes, but to transform the terms and nature of the debate. They are not always successful in their efforts,

Tags:

  International, Network, Transnational, Advocacy, Transnational advocacy networks in international

Information

Domain:

Source:

Link to this page:

Please notify us if you found a problem with this document:

Other abuse

Transcription of Transnational advocacy networks in international and ...

1 Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics*. Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink World politics at the end of the twentieth cen- works are helping to transform the practice of tury involves, alongside states, many non-state national sovereignty. actors who interact with each other, with states, Scholars have been slow to recognize and with international organizations. This article either the rationality or the significance of acti- considers how these interactions are structured vist networks . Motivated by values rather than in networks , which are increasingly visible in by material concerns or professional norms, international politics. Some involve economic they fall outside our accustomed categories.

2 Yet actors and firms. Some are networks of scien- more than other kinds of Transnational networks , tists and experts whose professional ties and advocacy networks often reach beyond policy ideas underpin their efforts to influence policy change to advocate and instigate changes in the (Haas, 1992). Others are institutional and principled networks of activists, dis- Margaret E. Keck is Associate Professor bases of international inter- tinguishable largely by the of Political Science, Johns Hopkins Uni- actions. When they succeed, centrality of principled versity, 338 Mergenthaler Hall, Balti- they are an important part of ideas or values in motivat- more, MD 21218, USA, email: an explanation for changes ing their formation.

3 We call mkeck She is author of The in world politics. A trans- Workers' Party and Democratisation in these Transnational advo- Brazil (1992) and PT: A Lo gica da Difer- national advocacy network cacy networks . enc a (in Portuguese) (1991). Kathryn includes those actors work- advocacy networks Sikkink is Professor of Political Science, ing internationally on an are significant transnation- University of Minnesota, 1414 Social issue, who are bound ally, regionally and dom- Science, 267 19th Avenue South, Minne- together by shared values, a apolis, MN 55455, USA, email: estically. They may be key Ksikkink She is author common discourse, and contributors to a conver- of Ideas and Institutions: Development- dense exchanges of infor- gence of social and cultural alism in Brazil and Argentina (1991).

4 Mation and Such norms able to support pro- networks are most prevalent cesses of regional and inter- in issue areas characterized national integration. By building new links by high value content and informational uncer- among actors in civil societies, states and inter- tainty, although the value-content of an issue is national organizations, they multiply the oppor- both a prerequisite and a result of network tunities for dialogue and exchange. In issue activity. At the core of the relationship is infor- areas such as the environment and human rights, mation exchange. What is novel in these net- they also make international resources available works is the ability of non-traditional inter- to new actors in domestic political and social national actors to mobilize information struggles.

5 By thus blurring the boundaries strategically to help create new issues and categ- between a state's relations with its own nation- ories, and to persuade, pressurize, and gain als and the recourse both citizens and states leverage over much more powerful organiza- have to the international system, advocacy net- tions and governments. Activists in networks ISSJ 159/1999 UNESCO 1999. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 90 Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink try not only to influence policy outcomes, but positions. Transnational advocacy networks may to transform the terms and nature of the debate. also be understood as political spaces, in which They are not always successful in their efforts, differently situated actors negotiate formally but they are increasingly important players in or informally the social, cultural and political policy debates at the regional and inter- meanings of their joint enterprises.

6 In both of national level. these ways, Transnational networks can be key Simultaneously principled and strategic vehicles for the cultural and social negotiations actors, Transnational advocacy networks frame' underpinning processes of regional integration. issues to make them comprehensible to target We refer to Transnational networks (rather audiences, to attract attention and encourage than coalitions, movements, or civil society) to action, and to fit' with favourable institutional evoke the structured and structuring dimension venues. By framing, we mean conscious strat- in the actions of these complex agents. By egic efforts by groups of people to fashion importing the network concept from sociology shared understandings of the world and of them- and applying it transnationally, we bridge the selves that legitimate and motivate collective increasingly artificial divide between inter- action' (McAdam et al.)

7 , 1996, p. 6). network national relations and comparative politics. actors bring new ideas, norms and discourses Moreover, the term network ' is already used by into policy debates, and serve as sources of the actors themselves; over the last two decades, information and testimony. Norms describe col- individuals and organizations have consciously lective expectations for the proper behaviour of formed and named networks , developed and actors with a given identity' (Katzenstein, 1996, shared networking strategies and techniques, p. 5; see also Klotz, 1995; Finnemore, 1996). and assessed the advantages and limits of this Shared norms often provide the foundation kind of activity. Scholars have come late to for more formal institutional processes of the party.

8 Regional integration. In so far as networks pro- Our theoretical apparatus draws upon mote norm convergence or harmonization at the sociological traditions that focus on complex regional and international levels, they are essen- interactions among actors, on the intersubjective tial to the social and cultural aspects of inte- construction of frames of meaning, and on the gration. They also promote norm implemen- negotiation and malleability of identities and tation, by pressuring target actors to adopt new interests. These have been concerns of con- policies, and by monitoring compliance with structivists in international relations theory and regional and international standards. As far as of social movement theorists in comparative is possible, they seek to maximize their influ- politics, and we draw from both traditions.

9 The ence or leverage over the target of their actions. networks we study participate simultaneously in In doing this they contribute to changing the domestic and international politics, drawing perceptions that both state and societal actors upon a variety of resources, as if they were may have of their identities, interests and prefer- part of an international society. However, they ences, to transforming their discursive positions, use these resources strategically to affect a and ultimately to changing procedures, policies world of states and international organizations and behaviour. We thus believe, with Finne- constructed by states. Both these dimensions are more, that States are embedded in dense net- essential.

10 Rationalists will recognize the langu- works of Transnational and international social age of incentives and constraints, strategies, relations that shape their perceptions of the institutions and rules, while constructivists and world and their role in that world. States are social constructionists will be more comfortable socialized to want certain things by the inter- with our emphasis on norms, social relations national society in which they and the people and intersubjective understandings. We are con- in them live' (Finnemore, 1996, p. 2). vinced that both matter; whilst recognizing that networks are communicative structures. To goals and interests are not exogenously given, influence discourse, procedures and policy, we can think about the strategic activity of Transnational advocacy networks may become actors in an intersubjectively structured political part of larger policy communities that group universe.


Related search queries